''Geoplana apua'' is a species of

land planarian Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive proper ...

belonging to the subfamily

Geoplaninae Geoplaninae is a subfamily of land planarians endemic to the Neotropical region. Members of this family are sometimes referred to as the Neotropical land planarians. However, one species, '' Obama nungara'' has been introduced in Europe. Descri ...

. It is found in areas within the Atlantic Forest in the municipalities of

Nova Iguaçu Nova Iguaçu (, ''New Iguaçu'') is a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil. Geography Location The city is named after the Iguaçu River that runs through it and empties into Guanabara Bay (not to be confused with the Iguaçu Rive ...

and

Teresópolis Teresópolis () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the States of Brazil, state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, in a mountainous region known as ''Região Serrana''. The Serra dos Órgãos National Park li ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Description

''Geoplana apua'' is a flatworm around 45 mm in length. The body has parallel margins; the front tip is rounded and the back tip is pointed. The dorsal side has a luminous orange band running down the middle, flanked on each side by a black stripe; the black stripe is bordered on the outside by a greenish-yellow stripe, which is bordered by a black band. The ventral side is a pale orange color.Ana Laura Almeida and others, ‘Endless forms most beautiful’: taxonomic revision of the planarian ''Geoplana vaginuloides'' (Darwin, 1844) and discovery of numerous congeners (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida), ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'', Volume 185, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 1–65. Aside from its coloration, it is distinguished from other members of ''Geoplana'' by having two-layered musculature of the inner

pharynx The pharynx (: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the human mouth, mouth and nasal cavity, and above the esophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs respectively). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates ...

, a developed anteroventral region of the penis bulb, and a penis papilla with the dorsal insertion displaced anteriorly and very ventrally, as long as 18 times its diameter.

Etymology

The specific epithet, ''apua'', is derived from a

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

word meaning "mound", in reference to the hills where type specimens were collected.

References

Geoplanidae Animals described in 2019 Platyhelminthes of Brazil {{Flatworm-stub